Palm Beach: In his first public remarks since being charged with making hush money payments to a porn star on Tuesday, Donald Trump launched a ferocious defence of his actions, calling the criminal investigation "an insult to our country."
In a dramatic hearing in New York hours earlier, the 76-year-old former US president entered a not guilty plea to 34 felony counts, captivating the nation and starting the countdown to the first-ever criminal trial of an American president.
After returning to Mar-a-Lago, his beachfront mansion in southern Florida, Trump addressed an audience of several hundred donors, political allies, and other supporters. "I never thought anything like this could happen in America — never thought it could happen," he said.
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"The only crime I've ever committed was standing up for our country against those who want to do it harm," It is a disgrace to our nation.
Trump, the front-runner in the race for the Republican nomination in 2024, claimed that "radical left" prosecutors across the nation were out to get him "at any cost" from a stage draped in American flags in an opulent gold-and-cream ballroom.
In order to cover up an alleged sexual encounter that occurred ten years ago, Trump is being sued by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg for falsifying the financial records of his company to conceal payments he made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels days before the 2016 election.
For the same charge of falsifying business records, Allen Weisselberg, Trump's former chief financial officer, is currently serving a five-month prison sentence.
"Repeated and fraudulently falsifying New York business records to conceal criminal conduct that concealed damaging information from the voting public during the 2016 presidential election," according to Manhattan prosecutors, is what Trump is accused of doing.
Details of hush money payments to Daniels, Playboy model Karen McDougal, and a former Trump Tower doorman who claimed to have information about a child Trump had outside of marriage were included in a "statement of facts" that was made public alongside the indictment.
Former Trump attorney Michael Cohen gave Daniels $130,000, while McDougal and the doorman each received $150,000 and $30,000 from AMI, the company that publishes the supermarket tabloid the National Enquirer. Trump and his supporters "also took steps that mischaracterized, for tax purposes, the true nature of the payments," according to Bragg.
Bragg has been charged by Trump and his attorneys with exaggerating the allegations. The former reality TV star claimed in a fundraising email sent just before taking off for Florida that his campaign had raised over $10 million since the news of his indictment broke.
I can say that, at least for the time being, I am in excellent spirits, even though we are going through some of the worst times in American history.
The first sitting or former American president to face a criminal charge is the Republican who was twice impeached. He had earlier pleaded not guilty to all charges in the Manhattan courtroom, speaking clearly while hunched over, occasionally seeming irritated but generally cooperating.
A trial may begin as early as January, a month before the start of the presidential primaries, according to Judge Juan Merchan, though Trump's attorneys have said they would prefer to delay it until next spring.
The hearing was a turning point for the US criminal and political systems, with a spectacle that was broadcast live on television and rival protesters gathering outside.
There was a large crowd present, with pro-Trump demonstrators shouting epithets at their rivals while wearing "MAGA" hats and clothing with the American flag on it.
Trump has long taken pride in his reputation as a playboy, but he has consistently denied having an affair with Daniels, which would have happened soon after the birth of his third wife Melania.
He is the subject of numerous independent criminal investigations at the state and federal levels, which could lead to additional, more serious charges before election day.
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They consist of his attempts to have his Georgian election loss from 2020 overturned, his handling of sensitive information, and his participation in the January 6, 2021 storming of the US Capitol.
Republicans have largely united behind Trump, but President Joe Biden has resisted offering any specific commentary out of respect for his potential 2024 rival's claims that the judicial system is being used as a political "weapon."